We had this problem with OSX 10.2 and 10.3 in combination with Illustrator 10.
In our document there were Cyrillic fonts used, when we removed these from the file the problem was solved.
But we still needed the Cyrillic fonts, so we put the fonts straight into the system/library/fonts folder instead of using Suitcase.
This solved the problem for us. (Putting the Cyrillic fonts in the user/library/fonts folder didn't help)

So I gues the problem lies in a font which is being used in the document, which have to be in the system fonts folder to make it possible for Illustrator/OSX to process the file......

Hope it solves the problem for you all !!!!